MARKET NEWS

by Solomon Ekanem

Teachers trained in Nigeria and Ghana can no longer use England’s direct application service for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), after the UK government tightened eligibility requirements for overseas-trained teachers.

• Teachers from Nigeria and Ghana can no longer use England’s direct application service for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) due to tightened UK eligibility rules.
• The change, effective from September 9, 2026, also affects teachers from India, removing these countries from the QTS direct recognition list.
• The main reason cited was issues with employment-reference verification, particularly the use of non-official email addresses like Gmail or Hotmail by applicants.
• Qualified teachers from outside the UK, including Nigeria and Ghana, can still work in England for up to four years without QTS, and there are alternative routes to obtain QTS.

The change took effect on September 9, 2026, when the UK Department for Education (DfE) removed Ghana, Nigeria and India from the countries whose teachers can use the “Apply for QTS in England” service.

QTS is the professional status used in England and is a legal requirement to teach in many schools, although it is not required in every type of school, including some academies, free schools and private schools.

The DfE said the decision followed changes to the requirements for countries participating in the direct recognition service.

According to the UK Department for Education, teachers trained in Nigeria and Ghana submitted 2,143 applications for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in the 2024–25 academic year.

Nigeria accounted for 1,076 applications, while Ghana accounted for 1,067. Of these, 560 applications resulted in QTS awards, while 1,348 were declined

Why Nigeria and Ghana lost access

The UK government said countries must have a national regulator that can confirm a teacher’s professional standing and must be able to provide employment references that meet its requirements.

Qualified teachers from outside the UK, including Nigeria and Ghana, can still work in England for up to four years without QTS, and there are alternative routes to obtain QTS.

For Nigeria and Ghana, the DfE pointed specifically to problems with employment-reference verification.

“More than 70% of applications from teachers in Ghana and Nigeria include work history references that use public email addresses, such as Gmail or Hotmail, rather than a school’s official email domain,” the department said.

The government added that this means its assessors “spend additional time and resources trying to verify information provided in applications.”

“We must be confident that the information applicants provide is genuine,” the DfE said. “This helps ensure that overseas teachers awarded qualified teacher status have the skills and experience needed to teach in schools in England.”

The requirement now states that references must confirm an applicant’s work history and use an email address belonging to the school’s domain.

The change does not amount to a ban on Nigerian or Ghanaian teachers working in England.

The UK government says qualified teachers from outside the UK can work in England for up to four years without QTS under its “4-year rule.” After that period, QTS is required to teach in many state schools.

Teachers affected by the change can also pursue alternative routes, including assessment-only QTS, teacher training in England or international qualified teacher status (iQTS).

Under the assessment-only route, experienced teachers with a degree can obtain QTS without completing a teacher-training programme.

The UK government says applicants generally need at least two years of teaching experience, a bachelor’s degree and other specified qualifications. Fees typically range from about £1,500 to £4,000, depending on the provider.

The iQTS route is also open to non-UK citizens and is delivered online by English teacher-training providers in partnership with schools around the world. The qualification follows the same standards as English QTS and leads to QTS.

The DfE said the purpose of the tighter rules is to ensure it can verify the qualifications, professional standing and experience of overseas teachers before awarding them QTS.